There is a frequent need for medical and veterinary practitioners and other skilled personnel to collect biological samples from various internal cavities. Generally available devices for collecting samples comprise a syringe having a barrel with a flexible catheter attached to the end of the syringe barrel. The catheter must be carefully inserted into the internal cavity from which the sample is to be obtained, and then the plunger of the syringe depressed and withdrawn to collect the biological sample. Such a process is time consuming, requires the use of two hands by the person collecting the sample, and can lead to considerable discomfort for the patient. Frequently, the need for two hands to perform the process requires an assistant to be present, which will increase costs and has the potential to cause increased embarrassment and discomfort to a human patient.
Women aged between 45 and 60 years of age appear to be more susceptible than other age groups to cellular abnormalities of the reproductive system. As outlined above, the procedures currently employed to obtain samples may cause discomfort, inconvenience and are prolonged procedures which may be embarrassing for most women.
For many years the so-called “Pap” smear tests have been employed to detect abnormal cells in the cervix. However, to examine the internal lining of the uterine cavity, or endometrium, a more invasive diagnostic biopsy or curettage procedure is employed. The biopsy procedure may be carried out in a doctor's surgery, but curettage involves admitting the patient to hospital and the removal of tissue under anaesthetic. These procedures remove cells from the endometrium that are then forwarded to be assessed by a pathologist.
A new and simpler procedure for detection of endometrial cancer, which is described in International Patent Application No. PCT/AU98/00189 (WO 98/42865), tests for certain enzymes and other biological substances produced by the cells of the internal lining of the uterus. Samples are obtained by flushing the uterine cavity with saline solution and conducting tests on the wash-saline. The procedure does not require anaesthetics or admission to hospital and can be conducted in the surgery by a general practitioner.
Presently available sampling syringes with a flexible catheter as described above are, in general, unsuitable for carrying out this new procedure due to excessive leakage of the wash-saline during the procedure. Moreover, the wash-saline samples often contain blood and other contaminating cells that need to be removed by centrifuging the wash-saline to obtain a cell-free supernatant. In addition, the operator cannot be sure of the position of the catheter in the uterus or the efficiency of irrigation of the uterine cavity.
The device of the present invention enables a biological wash sample to be obtained from the internal cavity of an organ such as the uterus with minimum discomfort. A concomitant feature is that the device can be operated by a medical or veterinary practitioner (or other skilled person) without additional assistance. As a result, the device of the present invention permits the effective collection of a biological wash sample from an internal cavity in minimum time, with minimum interference to the patient and with maximum expectation that the collected sample will be suitable for its intended diagnostic or other application(s).